WHAT A SCARE!

Well, tonight I had a great scare! I was at Wally World and was at the check out counter ready to pay for my purchases. I swiped my card, swiped again, again, again, the cashier swiped, then again, again, me again, then after 8 swipes and 8 declines, I started to get a little worried. Since no one was behind me and I had just spent over an hour in the store to pick out my purchases, I asked If I could call the bank regarding whey they wee declining my ATM card. I dialed the phone, told the customer service rep my problem and was put on hold several minutes-hence again-the worrying began. The woman returned to the phone, transferred me to ATM department and then BOOM! she informed me that there was a "critical alert" placed on my card this morning. When I asked why, well, you could have knocked me over with a feather! I was informed that the Florida authorities contacted my banking institution and informed them that my ATM card number was one of over 100 numbers that was found on a man that they arrested today and have incarcerated now in Florida. WHEW! She informed that they would issue me a new card, the number was no longer a valid number and my account was OK, nothing had been put through on it! WHAT A SCARE! Needless to say, I was sweating like a little pig and shivering like it was 10 below zero in the room! I wrote a check, packed my goodies and off I went. I got into my car and called the lady back, just to make sure I heard her right and everything was OK. Just and FYI to all of you----I did not lose my card, I do not use my ATM card on the Internet or give my number to anyone. What I was told, is that when you make any purchase from anywhere, that company is "NOT" supposed to keep any of your information overnight, once their transaction goes through, they are supposed to erase all daily transactions information. Some companies are lax or non-compliant with this, therefore "hackers" get into those systems and obtain all the information they need to sell to more than eager buyers. I thanked "Karen" profusely and the institution for taking care of this situation for me. So from me to all of you.....PLEASE, please, please, watch your accounts! KUDOS to my BANK!!!!!!